Works You Collect Compulsively--Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony
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- Опубліковано 18 жов 2024
- Tchaikovsky: “Manfred” Symphony
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski (LPO)
New Philharmonia Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Philharmonia Orchestra, Riccardo Muti
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Utah Symphony Orchestra, Maurice Abravanel
Note: In the video I mistakenly referred to Ashkenazy's Decca recording as with the LSO. My apologies.
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Oh my god, did you see the joy in that guy's face when he talks about music and his collection? Even if you don't always entirely agree with him, this, I think, is the reason we come back to visit this channel so many times: to share that simple joy.
Seven of my compulsively collected works: Mozart's Symphonie Concertante for wind instruments; Beethoven's Archduke Trio; Beethoven's Triple Concerto; Brahms' Double Concerto; Schumann's Symphony No. 4; Mozart's Clarinet Quintet; Bach's Violin Sonatas and Partitas.
This one is going to hit a nerve with a lot of us. Really fun idea. My old obsessive targets were the Beethoven Eroica, Berlioz Sy Fantastique and Debussy's La Mer, but all of those have been swamped by the Sibelius Violin Concerto. I have to have them all.
I have 6 Sibelius concertos and 6 Bach Sonatas and Partitas. Love the Manfred Symphony, too!
Handel:Messiah. I love all of his oratorios and operas, but I must be up to around 40 of these. But there are so many ways to approach it, so many different versions, and so many permutations and combinations of the soloists that I feel justified in collecting them. Top Five: Colin Davis, Philips; Trevor Pinnock; Mackerras EMI; Beecham, 1927 Columbia and 1959 RCA; Gardiner (the one with all of the possible alternates); Marriner, 1976. (List subject to change on a whim.) I think Saul is magnificent but the Archiv Mackerras is so perfect, I dont feel the same collector's compulsion.
Elgar Enigma Variations. Its a real masterpiece and Nimrod always brings a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye, I can't get enough of it.
(Elgar's electric version, Toscanini 1952, Monteux LSO, Jochum LSO, Zinman Baltimore. But also Barbirolli any version. The Zinman leapt into the top five after getting it due to Dave's recent video, though not the Cockaigne that accompanied it; but the Serenade is now also a top fave.)
Many of the rest are operas, from Wagner Rings and Meistersingers to the great Mozart, Verdi, Puccini and Strauss, mainly because of the many singer possibilities involved as well as conductors.
I like the Manfreds you mention but also rate Silvestri as a go-to version; likewise Toscanini (the 2nd mvt is dazzling) except that I hate his 4th mvt big cut. But as a piece of music, I prefer Manfred's avatar, the Berlioz Harold in Italy, and have over a dozen of those.
Love this idea, and will follow your future obsessions! I think I track this list entirely, though I might replace Abravanel with Petrenko/Royal Liverpool. Keep it up, Dave!
Great talk. A few of my compulsive collecting titles:
Franz Schmidt, Symphony #2
Florent Schmitt, Psalm 47
Vaughan Williams, Symphony #5
Albert Roussel, Symphony #4
Since there isn't a surfeit of recordings of any of these, it's not so hard to do.
Brahms 4th - I have 28 recordings. Furtwangler’s 1949 BPO is probably my favorite in terms of interpretation.
Mahler 6th - Own 15 recordings, and I’ve always loved Bernstein’s NYP recording most.
Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov - 12 recordings of this one in the various versions. Favorite is the Karajan recording of the Rimsky version with Ghiaurov. I’m also fond of the Semkow/Talvela recording of the original orchestrations, but recognize its big flaws.
Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring - 6 recordings, and want more! Favorite is Ozawa, but also love Dorati. Suitner is on my wish list.
I have a few works that I compulsively collect, but most of them are operas or vocal works.
1 - Wagner: Tannhäuser (my favourite opera) (Konwitschny, Solti, Karajan, Haitink, Heger)
2 - Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen (Böhm, Boulez, Solti, Levine, Krauss)
3 - Purcell: Dido and Aeneas (Pinnock, McGegan, Gardiner, Leppard [both Erato and Philips])
4 - Verdi: Don Carlo (Haitink, Santini [both EMI and DG], Giulini and Karajan)
5 - Mahler: All the boxes I find with his symphonies (Bernstein [Sony and DG], Chailly, Kubelik, Ozawa)
This is what is so great about streaming: one moderate subscription charge per month gets you (practically) countless versions of whatever you want.
It's not the same thing as having them yourself.
@@laggeman1396 No, it’s not. But does it matter? I still have a lot of CDs on the shelf, and that’s where they stay. Streaming is more convenient due to its portability, and besides - it’s listening that matters.
@@laggeman1396 It doesn't have to be either/or, you can still purchase recordings that you want to own forever while using a streaming service to discover new music and check out Dave's recommendations before committing to a purchase.
Another aspect of compulsive collecting is the "I probably will never listen to it; but I have to have it to complete the set" syndrome. Wagner's early operas come to mind.
I have this syndrome with Lohengrin!
A friend just had/has to get the complete Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto series, despite its obscurity and likelihood of not listening more than once!
Multiples of Mahler#2, Mahler #9, Prokofiev Piano Concerto #3, Sibelius Complete Symphonies, and Nielsen Complete Symphonies. One of my problems is that I act on your recommendations on things I really need to hear!
Yes, that IS a problem!
Vaughan Williams 6th Symphony
Nielsen's Symphony No. 4, Vaughan Williams' "Job," Elgar's Violin Concerto, Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24, Michael Praetorius' "Terpsichore."
Job - now that's worth any amount of compulsive collecting! 😊
Another GREAT series -- again, I can relate! Going back in time... (when my first OBSESSION list made it up to "5")
Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1 -- I bought EVERY LP recording, and each new release when it happened
Bizet's Carmen (Complete Opera)
Mussorgsky Night on Bald Mountain - ORIGINAL VERSION (Once Abbado introduced it on RCA with LSO)
Saint-Saens "Egyptian" Piano Concerto No. 5 (after hearing Lorin Hollander play it "live" -- no commercial recording comes close)
Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 1***
***That one has a great story to it! When I was introduced to recording LP records borrowed from the public library on my newly-acquired Montgomery Ward "Airline" reel-to-reel STEREO tape recorder from my 11-year-old paper route, I went NUTS borrowing my limit each and every week, buying lots of reel-to-reel blank tape, and I recorded EVERYTHING, then listened to tapes day and night. Well, I had one very long tape -- recorded at the slowest speed for maximum music on the reel -- but failed to label what was on it. Unbeknownst to me, one of the many works was Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1. I didn't know what it was but during one of my hearings of everything on that long tape, the work suddenly struck me. Wow! It totally wasn't the Emperor Concerto, nothing by Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Schumann, Brahms, I was beginning to know all the classics, but here was this crazy, short, energetic work that I never heard again -- ANYWHERE -- except on this unlabeled tape.
I was obsessed, nobody else could identify it, and I knew it backward and forward -- but having no idea who possibly could have written it, or what it was.
Then, as a busy college student, I was no longer able to keep up -- as I used to -- owning season tickets to the Utah Symphony. However, Vladimir Ashkenazy was coming to perform with Maurice Abravanel and the Utah Symphony in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. I got a "student ticket" and sat in the back -- at the time you could fit 7,000 people in there and it was packed.
Ashkenazy was playing a Mozart Piano Concerto & Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1. I was quite familiar with the 3rd, 4th & 5th, but had never heard No. 1. Or, so I thought... Suddenly, Abravanel flipped his baton, the orchestra "Bam, bam, bam" played those three chords that introduce the concerto and I found myself listening to Vladimir Ashkenazy playing my mystery tune! It was a great performance and sounded pretty-much exactly as I knew the work. As it turns out, I was hearing Vladimir Ashkenazy himself playing Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1 for the first time. He programmed it with the Utah Symphony because he was slated to record all of the Prokofiev Piano Concertos with Andre Previn and the LSO, so he wanted to play it in public.
Naturally, when his recording of the complete Prokofiev Concerti with Previn came out, not long after the event, I bought them all. (Turns out, my pirated recording from the library had been John Browning with Erich Leinsdorf and the Boston Symphony).
MORE INCREDIBLY, that very performance -- "live" in the Salt Lake Tabernacle with Abravanel, Ashkenazy & the Utah Symphony, with me in the audience (not coughing, thankfully) was RELEASED on some oddball CD label, for reasons I can't imagine. Some obscure label decided to cash in on the fact that they were able to compile Ashkenazy performs Prokofiev Piano Concertos 1, 2 & 3 from performances outside of Decca's mainstream commercial release, and they had to put this "live" Abravanel recording on the disc in order to fill it out.
At the time, there were incredibly few recordings of Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 1 -- Graffman was glorious, I bought that, legitimized my John Browning version by purchasing all the LP versions of his cycle with Boston and Leinsdorf, then went on to purchase every recording available from that moment on. Finally, after Argerich and Kissin recorded it, the market has become flooded with enough recordings that -- alas -- I am satisfied that I have enough recordings.
Love this new series, Dave. Thanks for starting it.
Speaking of the obsession -- when an expensive compilation of rare "live" recordings listed Byron Janis performing, "live" with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1, I naturally spent a small fortune on the entire pile in order to get yet another rare recording of it. I guess the obsession will forever exist.
For me, a rough top five of my obsession, Mahler’s 7th. No particular order. Bernstein with NYC, Kondrashin on Tahra, Gielen with the SWR, Gielen with Toronto, and Kubelic with the BRSO. Heck, I’ll throw in Utah and Abravanel too since his Manfred just came up. Had that one on CD and LP before I ditched physical media.
My top 5 in terms of compulsive searches for the infinite perfection: Borodin Symphony 2, Bruckner Symphony 9, Beethoven String Quartet 14, Schnittke Piano Quintet, Shostakovich Symphony 4
I like to collect:
- Beethoven, Diabelli Variations
- Brahms, Deutsches Requiem
- Brahms, Clarinet Quintet
- Bartok, Piano Works
- Ravel, Piano Works
Trying to keep the word obsessive out of my vocabulary, I call them catnip. Mahler’s Second is one of mine. I didn’t see the video of Bernstein’s athletic conductoring at Ely Cathedral until a few years after I latched onto this one (Slatkin’s).
Someone here created a video compilation of several conductors’ expressions as they complete this work, and they are all speaking or singing along for the last few minutes of the climacteric.
Jurowski, Bernstein NYPO, Slatkin & Ozawa SKO are my top 4, in no order. For now.
SCHERAZADE!!!!!!! ..............about 25 versions😊
Once I heard Kondrashin's version, I lost interest in listening to other versions and never bought any more Scherazade since. Kondrashin is that good
@@caleblaw3497 Your quite right, it seems the Russian conductors have a real feel for the music.
Elgar’s 2nd Symphony. Everything from the awful Svetlanov to the wonderful Slatkin. If it’s released, I’m gonna buy it…
Been collecting Haydn Symphonies for some time now but started out with No. 94 the versions I enjoy most, Colin Davis and the Concertgebouw, Edward van Beinum and the Concertgebouw, Pierre Monteux and Vienna Phil, Bernstein, and can't forget Dorati
The first time that I heard Mahler’s 7th Symphony was back in the 1950s with Hans Rosbaud conducting the Symphony Orchestra of Radio Berlin on Urania URLP405. I was very impressed and quickly discovered that this work was rarely recorded during the 50s. For a while I collected every new recording that became available and now have 4 conducted by Rosbaud. for my favorite I will cite his 1954 recording with the Sudwestfunk Orchestra Baden-Baden on SWR>Classic. Others that I like include Kubelik with the New York Philharmonic, Horenstein New Philharmonia, Abbado Chicago, and Rattle Birmingham.
As a Bruckner nerd, I collect Bruckner symphonies. Unfortunately, I also bought the Bruckner cycle with Thielemann (though before Dave's scathing review!).
What a fabulous idea for this channel. I think practically everyone here can find himself in that, in greater or lesser extent.
My own quiet harmless obsessions :
Beethoven's Diabelli-variations.
Bach's Cello suites.
Beethoven symphonies.
Brahms symphonies 1 and 4 (no idea why, but that's just how it is)
Mahler's 1 and 7
Mahler 6: Bernstein II, Barbirolli, Tennstedt live, Pappano, Zander/Boston PO, plus about 20 more.
My compulsive collecting began with discovering the Four Last Songs-a groaning shelf full (and counting). But beyond that, I can’t resist a new set of Schubert Impromptus, the latest Kindertotenlieder, Beethoven’s Op 109, or any recording I can turn up of that great Verdi tune-fest, Trovatore. Indefensible, perhaps, but hugely pleasurable.
Why indefensible? It's a masterpiece, plain and simple, and needs no apology.
Totally agree, and it’s always my answer to friends who’ve spent years indicting me for loving Trovatore over what they find more estimable Verdi like Otello or Falstaff. Truth is, I love Verdi, period. But Trovatore’s what I compulsively collect.
Hey, I think that I may have contributed to this idea. I have a comment to "The Greatest Recordings EVER: An Introduction" which stated:
"I would like to suggest a new series: Works That Dave Collects Every Recording Of".
Here is my five:
1. Schoenberg Variation for Orchestra Op 31
2. Bach Goldberg Variation on Harpischord
3. Verdi Requiem
4. Chopin Etudes op 10 & 25
5. Rachmaninov 24 Preludes and Etudes Tableaux.
This could turn into a very popular series indeed. How many others of you out there are buried under piles of recordings of complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas, especially the last three, or Bach's Well Tempered Klavier? I know I am. I look forward to any comments, and Dave I especially wish you great success on this particular series. Thanks and take care!
Bartók - Concerto for Orchestra
Stockhausen - Tierkreis
Bach - Trio Sonatas for Organ
Berwald - Symphonies
Schönberg - Fünf Orchesterstücke
Thanks, Dave, I always appreciate your insight and choices. One minor correction for Ashkenazy's Eloquence version - it's the Philharmonia Orchestra instead of London Symphony Orchestra.
Actually, it's the NEW Philharmonia! Damn those London orchestras, and thanks for the correction!
Unfortunately, I’m retired and can’t afford to “collect compulsively ”. I try to find one or two great recordings of any given piece and live with that.
Bach cantatas - complete: Suzuki- Gardiner - Rillling - Harnoncourt/ Leonhardt - they are all good! Herreghwe is probably next 😎
There's a few pieces that I compulsively collect, but the two big ones are Daphnis et Chloé and Vaughan Williams 5. I guess I just really love pieces of that begin with gentle horn calls. The same horn call, in fact.
Tchaikovsky...for me, it's definitely the Pathetique.
Please do a video of Brahms Handel Variations next, i got over a dozen of those things.
Mahler - Symphony #1. My favorites are:
- Ivan Fischer + Budapest Festival Orchestra
- Bernstein + Concertgebouw
- Ancerl + Czech Phil
I find myself coming back to the Constantin Silvestri Manfred recording (in mono) with the French National Radio Orchestra (I know Dave plugs it in his Repertoire video on Manfred, but I find it just as convincing as even Jurowski's, if not more so.
I'm glad you and others have mentioned it. I may be in for a "top 5" realignment!
The keyword here is "compulsively." I collect multiples of lots of things but if there are works that I can't say no to a new version, it has to be:
-- Bach - Cello Suites
-- Schubert - String Quintet in C major
-- Beethoven - Piano Sonata 32 Op. 111
These are works for which I don't seek any sort of a definitive or best version, I'm very happy with a wide variety of approaches.
I tend to double-up on audio spectaculars like Scheherezade and the Respighi Tryptich because they have the greatest potential for variation, both in interpretation and in sound quality. Also obsessive about Elgar's 1st Symphony! The score looks much more complex than it actually sounds, but every hidden strand somehow counts.
I was lucky enough to have the Ashkenazy disc be my imprint recording for this work, and I personally think it's my favorite symphony by Tchaikovsky...although the 6th may take that spot from time to time...but it is also my favorite tone poem by Tchaikovsky too (yes Romeo is probably more 'important' and Francesca has its moments) but I honestly feel he was in top form when he composed this great neglected masterwork...we get the most inspired lyricism and the most turbulent storms he ever put to paper IMHO!!!
My compulsive collections: Beethoven's 5th / Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (original piano AND all orchestrations), Liszt's Trancedental Etudes, Chopin's Ballads & Prokofiev's Sonata 7
A personal favourite of mine was Maazel's 1972 recording with Vienna. The Vienna brass and percussion let it rip in the finale. Not available on disc but can be streamed on most services.
I have it on disc - one of the Decca budget labels. But...they absolutely should have included it in his Tchaikovsky Symphony set.
It was indeed issued on CD, more than once.
The pieces I keep buying are Shostakovich symphonies 5 and 11 , Mozart clarinet concerto, Rachmaninov piano concerto 3 (in the past but not now), bach cello suites (in the past not now) and Beethoven's symphony 5 (that you for putting me onto Markevitch).
Taking just one; the Mozart Clarinet concerto; there is the problem of the choice of basset clarinet or modern clarinet. It seems no one is permitted to record it now with a modern clarinet. My top ranking versions are (1) Marcellus with Szell; modern clarinet, (2) Brymer with Davis and LSO; modern clarinet, (3) Thea King with Tate and ECO; basset clarinet and (4) Meyer with Honk 🤭 (Some nice nominative determinism there) ; basset clarinet. American clarinetists seem to have a fetish kind worship of Harold Wright (and the use of Buffet R13 clarinets) which is weird 'cause he has such a limited discography confined to mostly out-of-print obscure labels. He had a recording of the concerto with Ozawa on DG but he sounded distant in mix and he fluffs a run in the first movement, so it is not in my favs. There are so many stronger performances. The issue of using a basset clarinet is that they are so expensive , very few makers, and there is all most no repertoire for it other than Mozart concerto, quintet , serenade and a bit in an opera.
I am so glad I’m not alone on this behavior. I often feel guilty for spending money on music that I already have. I can justify it sometimes by getting both a modern instrument and period instrument version. Dvorak symphonies seem to be my weakness. I’ve got the cycles by Anguelov, Suitner, Valek, Beleslavik (sp?) Neumann, plus the partial cycles by Mackerras, Bernstein, Levine, Davis, and A few others I can’t think of right now.
I haven't the shelf space to compulsively collect much. Fortunately, there's streaming. I find myself drawn to different performances of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 31 - Nissman, Rosen, Anderszewski) and the Piano Concerto No. 4 (Serkin/Ormandy, Moravec, Fleischer, Arau, Gieseking).
I've also been following Dave's Mahler symphony reviews. It's too early for to make recommendations.
Ah - we are not alone! compulsive collections of the standards: complete symphony cycles of Beethoven, Mahler, Prokofiev; Beethoven piano sonatas (esp Op. 111) and piano concerti; The Planets; Rachmaninoff concerti - formerly compulsive with Verdi Requiem.
This will be an interesting series.
Brahms Symphony No. 1 and Brahms Piano Concertos 1 and 2
Beethoven Consecration of the House and Choral Fantasy
Thanks.
I don’t know if it counts since it’s a collection of different works, but operettas by Offenbach have a special place in my collection and whenever a new recording is made (no matter how small and negligible it might be) I need to have it. Luckily Bru Zane and CPO have been helping to scratch that itch for the last couple of years. 😅
I'm with you there.
I compulsively collect Tchaikovsky 5ths
Manfred for me too. Still think Markevitch is best. Berlioz symphonie fantastique is another. Also unfortunately (for cost reasons) I also collect Ring cycles. Madness I know.
I collect Rings, too - 15 recorded versions at the last count, and 5 video performances. And don't get me started on my Parsifal or Tristan collections!
@@stevemcclue5759Hear, hear!
I do this with certain pieces.
Mahler 2,
Messiaen - Vingt-Regards.
Polyphony of the late medieval masters (Dufay, Ockeghem, etc.).
Bach cello suites
Many versions of these in no particular order:
1. Ravel Introduction & Allegro
2. Ravel Ravel Piano Trio in A Minor
3. Debussy Pour Le Piano
4. Schubert String Quartet No 15
5. Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2
You say in no particular order, but surely it's no accident that Introduction and Allegro ended up in the top spot! Perhaps my favorite work by Ravel. Certainly the "Introduction" is among his most beautiful creations. It was entirely off my radar, until I saw the movie An Education, in which it opens a scene that truly complements the exquisite delicacy of the music.
I wouldn't be considered a compulsive record collector in this company. But among my 1000 or so discs I have 10 recordings of Tristan and Isolde. I mean, how can you not?
My list for some reason is: Beethoven 32 Piano Sonatas
Beethoven 9 Symphonies
Brahms symphony N°1 (but the others also, but specifically of the one i got more than... I guess 30?)
Franck Symphony
D'indy Symphonie sur un chant montagnes
For Ashkenazy, I can only find Philharmonia Orchestra version. Could you please confirm with is the performance with LSO or Philharmonia Orchestra?
Ashkenazy made it with Philharmonia, not with LSO.
Yes, my mistake. Sorry--I was relying on memory, foolishly.
I was oddly obsessed for a time with Petrushka and Gershwin's Piano Concerto. I guess my favorites are:
Petrushka - Ozawa/Boston (of course), Jarvi/Cincinnati, Muti/Philadelphia, Bernstein/Israel, Monteux/Boston is great, but why does he skip a couple of the tableau/drumrolls?
Gershwin - Wild/Fiedler/Boston (obviously), Jon Nakamatsu/Tyzik/Rochester, Siegel/Slatkin/St. Louis.
For Rhapsody in Blue … check out Louis Lortie (with Dutoit / Montréal). Absolutely worth hearing!
Franz Schmidt's 4th symphony is one work I've collected and I think I have every cd version ever done.
1. Martin Sieghardt (Chesky)
2. Zubin Mehta (Decca)
3. Kreizberg (Pentatone)
4. Welser-Most (EMI)
5. P Jarvi (DG)
I've also collected at least two dozen Manfreds - many of them I reject out of hand because of cuts or re-orchestration. Too bad the Svetlanov has less that stellar sound and that Ormandy recorded it at an advanced age.
Top 5 for me: 1)Mahler Symphony no. 10, (any realization goes!)
2) Sibelius, Symphony no. 7,
3. Brahms, Symphony no. 4 (and also Brahms symphony cycles if I'm being honest)
4) Sibelius, Tapiola
5) Alan Rawsthorne, anything
1. The Brandenburg Concertos
2. Messiah
3. Les Nuits d'eté
4. The Pathetique
5. Mozart 5 Violin Concertos
Happily enough I can resist the temptation a little bit, but I am inclined to have dozens of recordings of Bach's Partitas for piano. Until now I restrict myself to: Perahia, Schiff (1), and listening to youtube: Nosrati (she's phenomenal imo!), Hewitt, Koroliov, Schiff (2), David Fray and Martin Helmchen
Very restrained...
😂 me, or Nosrati, or Bach, or Bach's Partitas etc. etc.?
For me it would be Rachmainoff Piano Concerto #2. The followings are my favorite versions:
1) Hiroko Nakamura with Svetlanov/State Symphony Orchestra of Russia
2) Denis Matsuev with Rico Saccani/Budapest Philharmonic
3) Evgeny Kissin with Gergiev/LSO
4) Richter with Sanderling/Leningrad Philharmonic
5) Sokolov with Jukka-Pekka Saraste/Finnish Radio
The last one not a CD (UA-cam video), so may be not qualified for compulsive collection
I think Matsuev's recording with Gergiev on Mariinsky is massively underrated, despite the DISASTROUS final few bars. It's a real shame the ending was botched because Matsuev's playing in this recording is SO unique and beautiful, it's usually my go-to for recreational listening out of the 15-20 recordings I own; entirely because of Matsuev. It's paired with an outstanding Prokofiev 2 also, so I'd highly recommend this album if you don't own it already.
hello mr hurwitz.....my choice:
my top 5.....
1.stravinsky the rite of spring ( my best,levine met orchestra dgg )
2. beethoven pastoral symphonies ( my best . giulini philarmonia emi )
3.brahms symphonies no 1 ( my best, bernstein vienna phil dgg )
4,rossini-respighi,la boutique fantasque ( my best ,richard bonynge,national phil london-decca )
5 holst the planets ( my best,levine chicago symp dgg )
6....oh i stop here , you said only 5...!
The NINTH!
The Ring!
Parsifal
Cavalleria Rusticana
Just about anything that’s old/vintage and on the internet.
Bach - Goldberg
Bach - Cello Suites
Mahler Symphonies, especially nos. 2, 5, 9 and Das Lied
Beethoven Symphonies
Bruckner Symphonies
And lots and lots of others. But I understand that we can only name our top fives?
Palestrina: Pope Marcellus Mass
Wagner: Die Walkure
Fauré: Requiem
Brahms: German Requiem
Bizet: Carmen
Sibelius 7 is my too-good-for-any-one-performance: its unique combination of symphonic unity with such diversity within sets a challenge for sheer mobility. Plus it's more densely and richly scored (for the most part) than the other mature symphonies with a greater range of color. Bernstein in NY did it well but with some unnecessary underlining at the close; Karajan emphasized its wholeness at the expense of its dynamic range. Most of the earlier interpreters are too fast. My preferred is Rattle with the CBSO, believe it or not. Expansive at the opening but it unfolds as the music dictates, in the end lasting 10 seconds more than Blomstedt, who is dutiful but a little dull.
For me, Mahler symphonies cycle for a long time and recently Nielsen symphonies…